You Are Here by Chris Delyani
You Are Here is like a carousel developing in the Castro district in San Francisco. It all starts with Peter, wanna-be artist who is working as a waiter in a local coffe-store; painful shy, he just left home back in Chicago probably with the dream to be finally free in the gayer city in US, San Francisco; but nothing is simple, and Peter will find out there are people not so good, like Donald, the business man who brings him home one night, and Jeff, is strange roommate.
Donald’s own roommate, Myles, is a nice man trying to overcome a broken-heart; his fiancé Stuart left him without a word days before their marriage, and Myles is wandering the streets hoping to meet him. The only link Myles has with his former boyfriend his Stuart’s best friend, Ben, but Ben is also the reason for their break-up, so he is the last person Myles would like to be near too.
On the other side of Peter’s life there is his roommate Jeff, a widower who inherited his townhouse from his late partner, and who is now basically living on the little income he has left. Jeff is trying in every way to find a new partner to climb again the social staircase, and Nick is the most likely candidate. On New Year’s Eve, when Jeff thinks to plot his conquest, Nick is “distracted” by Ben (yes the same of above), and they ended having sex in Peter’s bedroom, who will be accused by Jeff of stealing his man.
Peter will end living with Ben, and in front of him will have two chances: socialite Nick, with a different man every weekend, and quiet and brooding Myles, who is probably still stuck up with his ex-boyfriend Stuart.
I liked how the Castro seemed at the same time so full of opportunities, but also so tight a community. There are a lot of characters in the novel, everyone with his own story, but they seemed to work together perfectly, like an oiled clockwork. This was not a light tale, some of the characters were vicious in their behavior, but it’s also true that they had it back to them in the end. Who was good, who didn’t give in to life and try, instead, were able to find an happily ever after (or some sort of it).
Amazon: You Are Here
Amazon Kindle: You Are Here
Paperback: 334 pages
Publisher: iUniverse (August 14, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1475934432
ISBN-13: 978-1475934434
Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle
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